Heat Detection !

I had a conversation with a farmer the other day .basically it started off with him asking if I enjoyed my weekends off , oh yes i replied, telling him that although i was off , i was always around for AI's etc and to keep an eye on our activity collars on the cows for any signs of heat (bulling, ).At this point his ears picked up and he started to tell me that he too has collars on his cows , to pick up cows in heat , although he is far from happy with the results and effectiveness of them.
I explained that it is , indeed, all in the interpretation of the results of the activity graphs , that will determine the optimum results , but it soon became apparent that he has been sold this kit as a HEAT DETECTOR , this is just so wrong. The collar system we have here was sold to us , and bought by us as an ACTIVITY DETECTOR, ie, it monitors the levels of activity in the individual animals and will conjure up graphs which i can interpret and perhaps make correlations with the animal coming into season.
Too many of these systems have been mis-sold as the answer to all of the dairy industries fertility issues, and that all you have to do is look at the computer screen and it will tell you exactly what is happening out in the field with regard to fertility. Quite simply , they will give you some sort of indication that the individual animal is more/less active than her 7 day average activity level. Then , by other means , visual, dates, heat detectors etc , you may be able to determine if indeed the animal is in season.
Another aid in heat detection that we use is the Kamar heat detector. This is a plastic "bubble" filled with a red dye that is glued onto the tail head of the cow and quite simply is burst and turns red when another animal mounts her ! Now this type of aid DOES demonstrate that there has indeed been some SIGN of heat , but again , this should only be used as a guide an d possible further investigation my be needed.
There is no getting away from the fact that one of the most reliable means of heat detection is purely with the human eye , basically you can never spend enough time watching the cows for any signs of heat .It's amazing the signs are there if you can just spend that 20 mins standing , studying them .
I mentioned this to the farmer , and i advised him to perhaps try the Kamar type of heat detection. Unbelievably , he had never heard of them , and even worse was that he went on to tell me just how many thousands his collar system was to install.
I just felt it was a tale of getting back to basics , getting out in the field , seeing the signs for yourself. . . . . .far cheaper and way more rewarding too .

Green Green Grass

Normally at this time of year i am practically wasting grass , as the cows simply can't keep up as the grass gets away on them .This year ? Well, it's safe to say a little more growth would be very welcome , especially in the silage fields .This is the crop that is going to feed the cows right throughout the winter and into next summer , so the more we can possibly ensile , the better. All we need is a LITTLE rain a LOTS of heat , but i think it will be too little , too late , as we plan to cut on Sunday or Monday with a view to lifting the grass 2 days later ! This is all done by contractor , purely for speed and ease ! Hopefully 2 crops will be enough , we do have plenty left from last year to fall back on .
With the grazing grass, we are just starting the second time round of the "circuit" of the grazing fields .Obviously every time the girls graze it and it grows again , the quality is just that bit less next time round.
However , that said , the milk yields are holding up , and even if the grass is not growing fast enough , the weather is suiting the cows down to the ground.Even the colder nights hasn't really affected them like I thought it would.

Once the silage has been lifted from the fields , there will be the small matter of spreading approx 300 000 gallon of slurry onto the bare fields . This will be done by contractor too , it's amazing the speed and quantity that they can put out In a day .This year they are trying to convince us to use an Aerator type system. I know very little of this , except that it would place the slurry a few inches into the soil, it would let the soil use more of the nutrient , there would be less smell , and it will cost us £10/acre MORE than usual. The jury is still out on that decision at the moment

Feeding the Girls

With the cows now out on extremely rich , high in protein, spring grass , it's now time to produce as much milk as possible at the cheapest time of the year . Grazed grass should always be your cheapest input in milk production in the summer months .Despite the cold weather , it has been fairly dry and grass growth has been happening , all be it a little slow in some of the fields.
However we do like to give the cows alittle of what they like , so they are fed a "buffer" ration , this is a little token feed of a formulated ration containing slightly better but most importantly , consistant, ingredients that should complement the grass outside . Ingredients that are in our buffer feed at the moment are :
2kg protein blend
10kg grass silage
0.5kg straw
0.1kg minerals
2.5kg rolled barley

These ingredients are mixed in our Keenan feeder and are fed in the feed passage for the cows to pick away at just after milking .The ration itself is formulated for us by Keenan nutrition. The above diet is per head/day.
As the grazing season goes on , the quality of the grass will start to decrease and that will be the time to tweak the buffer feed ration accordingly , all in the aim of maintaining milk production , but most importantly of all , maintaining margins and efficiency

Spring Is Here ? ! ?

Well here we are , May 10th , the cows are out both day and night , yet the temperatures of late have been terrible to say the least . Grass growth has been fairly good despite the cold , although I can't see us starting the silage cut as early as last year .
The cows are still getting a token gesture of TMR , pretty much just as much as they can eat after both milkings, at least it takes the edge off their appetites when they go out !
So it's been more than a while since the last update and we have been busier than ever .
The cows all got their annual Tb test in Feb, thankfully all passing again .At the same time they are all tested for johnnes and also tested for our health scheme , so to date we are Johnnes, Bvd and Lepto accredited, a status that we are keen to hang on to .
As mentioned in the last post , the classifier was in , in early feb , it was a good visit .The Chloanne girls did very well .
They are now ;
Chloanne Webster Gracious EX92(3)
Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 3 GP83
Chloanne Spooky Gracious G75
Chloanne Tulip Gracious GP83
Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 2 VG88
Chloanne Hanno Gracious VG85
Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious VG89
Frankham Sept Storm Ethel VG85

So all in all , i am getting there .
Notable in her abscence from the above list is Chloanne Magna Gracious, who calved on the 8th March. Sadly after a day of looking a bit under the weather , she became a classic "downer" cow and never really recovered . She was put down , not an easy deciscion to make , but one which was the right thing to do for the cow .
In mid feb , i also lost a 3 month old heifer , Chloanne Planet Gracious , reason unknown, that was totally unexpected and all the more gaulling as i was away for the week in question , so have no real answers as to what happened .
Replacements for the Chloanne 'herd' are very thin on the ground at present , with 301, 202 and 302 all having bull calves .Hopefully this heifer drought will ease soon .
On a better note the first Chloanne Gallagher calves are now on the ground , i think at the time of posting there is 19 daughters in 10 herds.
It is quite a bizarre feeling to see offspring from one of your bulls , being born on someone elses farm .

This year we are thinking of replacing some of the cubicles in the cow sheds. This is long overdue and hopefully for next winter , the girls will be lying in the lap of luxury, in better sized beds for the modern Holstein cow.

As you can see from the main page of the blog , i can see when and where people have visited this site . It is amazing to think that people from Usa, Canada , Moscow , India and all over the Uk have clicked from Twitter, YouTube, or even just Googled "Chloanne" . I really must make more of an effort to keep this blog up to date , so here's hoping !